Unemployed Environmental Health Officers and Assistants are protesting to demand immediate employment. They said several years after completing their training, the government has not offered them jobs. The unemployed environmental health officers took to the streets of Tamale in a massive demonstration over their unending unemployment plight.
They said the government must now resolve their unemployment issues and offer them jobs. According to the protestors, their continuous stay at home is depriving them of earning a livelihood and contributing to national development.
In a speech delivered by the Public Relations Officer of the group, Addai Jacob, the group lamented the unfulfilled promises by the Sanitation and Water Resources, Finance, and Local Government and Rural Development ministries since 2021.
“This morning we are here to petition the Finance Ministry, Local Government and Municipal Sanitation for clearance and posting. So on behalf of the posted environmental officers and assistants, we would like to urgently seek your intervention in addressing the critical issues of unemployment among qualified environmental health officers and assistants who have graduated from the three schools of hygiene in Ghana.
“We have completed our training and are eager to contribute to the national development most especially in the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources. However, due to a lack of financial clearance and posting, we are facing mass challenges and are unable to secure employment opportunities” Jacob Addai stated.
“We are calling on the Ministry of Finance and Water Resources in collaboration with the Local Government…to give us financial clearance and posting as we are facing immense challenges, unable to have three square meals.”
According to Jacob Addai, they want the Finance Ministry to grant financial clearance so the over 1,600 environmental health officers can be posted to various the Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies to enforce sanitary by-laws.
Awine Fred Atinga, Secretary to the group revealed the hardships members go through due to their unemployment, stating they are struggling to make ends meet.
“I’m an environmental head officer who has completed since 2021 and has been home for all this while. We are jobless and we are schooled just to serve the country and also to get something to feed our family. We are very tired in the house and we are suffering, we’re just suffering to feed ourselves.
“Even coming here you can see the numbers. People are willing to come but even to get 10 cedis, and 20 cedis for transportation it is not easy for us. We truly indeed need our persons to be able to serve our country and not only the country but to feed ourselves,” he said.
Also, the Environmental Health Officer called on the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and other mandated institutions to intervene and post them to their respective positions. He said their continuous stay at home is a national security threat thus a need for the security agencies to intervene and absorb them.
“We are calling on IGP as well…it is a national security threat,” he stated, adding, “seek intervention to clear us and push us. This demonstration has become necessary after several engagements with stakeholders in the Ministry of Sanitation.”